This week's Soundtrack CDs reviewed

ANGELO MILLI
Seven PoundsVarese Sarabande ****

After several years scoring indie films ( Unknownand La Mujer De Mi Hermano), Angelo Milli enters the mainstream with a powerful score for the three-hankie Will Smith weepie Seven Pounds. What is remarkable for a downbeat film about morbid guilt and body organs is how understated and subtle the thirtysomething Venezuelan-born composer's score is. With its taut melodies, sinuous polyrhythms, bright electronica, slyly treated instrumentation (distorted pianos, phased didgeridoos, pizzicato strings) and spare orchestration, his score manages to be both lyrical and cerebral, eschewing easy sentimentality for emotional seriousness. Although Seven Poundsis that frequent Hollywood film-music phenomenon of a smart score carrying a dumb movie, Milli nevertheless has deservedly hit the big time. www.colosseum.de 

Download Tracks: Requiem, Seven Days Seven Seconds